Owho believe, fasting is
decreed for you
as it was decreed for those before you;
perchance you will guard yourselves.
...
The month of Ramadan is the month
in which the Koran was sent down,
a guidance for the people,
and clear verses of guidance and
criterion.
[Quran: Chapter 2, 183]

GLOSSARY OF ISLAMIC TERMS
FOR
THE MONTH OF RAMADAN

Compiled by M. I. Zahid

Bab Al-Raiyan

The name of one of the gates of Heavens (Jannah) through which the people who often
observe fasting will enter on the Day of Judgement.

Eid Al-Fitr

Three day festival marking the end of Ramadan. It takes place on the 1st of Shawal,
the 10th month of the Islamic calendar.

Fidya

Compensation for missing or wrongly practicing necessary acts of worship. Fidya
usually takes the form of donating money, foodstuffs, or sacrificing an animal. Contrast
with Kaffara (making amends).

Iftar

Breaking of the fast immediately after sunset. Iftar takes place at Maghrib as soon
as the Call to Prayer (Adhan) is called.

Imsak

Start of the fasting time. Imsak begins when the first light of dawn becomes
visible, and ends at Fajr when the Adhan is called.

I'tikaf

I'tikaf refers to the religious practice of spending the last ten days of Ramadan
(either wholly or partly) in a mosque so as to devote oneself exclusively to worship. In
this state one may go out of the mosque only for the absolutely necessary requirements of
life, but one must stay away from gratifying one's sexual desire. The minimum period for
i'tikaf is twenty-four hours. I'tikaf is not valid if one is not keeping the fast or if it
is done outside the month of Ramadan.

Kaffarah

Kaffarah means atonement, expiation.

Lailatul-Qadr

'The Night of Power,' concealed in one of the odd nights in the last ten days of
Ramadan; the night on which the Qur'an was first revealed by Jibraeel to the Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH), and which the Qur'an itself describes as "better than a
thousand months."[Al-Qadr (97:3)]